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I've been there, done that. Now I prefer to keep my hair short. Its easer to take care of, and I think it just looks better.

I like clear lines between masculinity and femininity. Short hair on men and long hair on women is a great way to accomplish that. I also think that long hair on guys usually doesn't look that great. I suspect that it is probably that guys don't take as good a care of their hair, as women do.

The OP isnt trying to "guess" which men are gay by their hairstyles....I think the key is that from the gay men who you KNOW to be gay, a lot of them seem to have short hair.

Thanks, exactly...it's more i notice men who are out or who seem gay, very very few, even a lower percentage than straight males, seem to go for the long style. In fact very short styles seem popular, just go to a gay club.

The OP asked a question, which seems to me to be valid given that many of the men who are openly gay in the media do have short hairstyles. They also seem to have great bodies because of their interest in working out. (I've always assumed the short hair was just easier to maintain for people who spend so much time in the gym.)

Postman, since so many gay men still don't feel they can be open about their sexual preferences, I think it's easy for hetero people to think that the West Hollywood stereotype of gay culture is the norm nationwide. It might be the face of gay culture, in the way that geeks are the face of the IT culture, even though not everyone in that world is a geek (some of them are even ... hold on to your hat ... women).

But there are plenty of gay men who have long hair. Gay Longhair Gallery Someone else also pointed out the very typical gay subculture known as "bears." Personally, I know more gay men who fit that description than the West Hollywood type, but I don't live in a place where anyone seems to be particularly interested in fashion.

As for the OP's observation, "I remember back in the 70s (well not personally since I was born in the 80s, but through pop-cultural media references) some people would berate men with long hair as being sissies/girly or homosexuals," that is indeed true. But it was the 1960s, not the '70s. I was in public school in Pennsylvania in the 1960s and boys could get kicked out of school by letting their hair grow over their collars. I have a strong memory of my Spanish teacher openly torturing a good-looking young man who adopted a Beatles hairstyle. NOT a Sgt. Pepper Era Beatles hair style (shoulder length with accompanying facial hair). I mean the relatively benign Meet the Beatles bangs. The teacher berated the student repeatedly and when he ignored her she brought in a ribbon and tied a bow in his hair to mock him. She made him wear the bow every day. To his credit, he DID, and she was the one who looked like a fool. And all of us girls (forced to wear skirts every day, just for the record) were crushing on him, totally defeating her purpose. By the 1970s, long hair on men was so ubiquitous that public schools gave up on enforcing a rule against it, much as they do for visible tattoos today.

I'm glad that there's a lot of leeway today in style and that people can engage in personal expression. For every gay ice skater in the world who wears his make-up even off-stage, there are gay men who look more like Ted Nugent. So there's no way to make assumptions about styles equating sexual preference for men. As for lesbians, there are just as many "lipstick lesbians" out there in the world than there are ones who look like K.D. Lang, so no-go with equating fashions styles with sexuality for women either.

Yeah at least someone sort of sees what I'm getting at. Yes, it's amazing that the 'mop top' was seen as shocking back then lol.

The OP asked a question, which seems to me to be valid given that many of the men who are openly gay in the media do have short hairstyles. They also seem to have great bodies because of their interest in working out. (I've always assumed the short hair was just easier to maintain for people who spend so much time in the gym.)

But short hair is in style so it should be of no concern. Why single out gay men? Men in general have short hair. Many men that are not gay and in the media also have short hair. Our President has short hair. Does that make him Gay? I just don't see the corelation at all. In addition I know not all gay men have short hair as you continued to point out.

On young men, longer hair can be really nice, but as they age, it doesn't look good as a general rule. As all of us get older, the majority of us have our hair thin -- in numbers and in texture. And thin hair longer on men just looks old.

Hubs did the long pony tail for years after we started our business.... and then one day he said -- cut it off! Took YEARS off his face.

The question is sort of moot.... because the percentage of men overall who have long hair is small.

So unless there's a disparity between the percentages of men with long and -- and GAY men with long hair.....there's nothing to notice.

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